Overall Rating: 6 Synopsis: () scores points in the latter half of the album, but there isn't enough going on to avoid a letdown from Ágætis Byrjun. Sigur Rós Online | buy it at Amazon

The problem with producing an album like Ágætis Byrjun is that everything a band releases after it will inevitably be compared to it. It's like Pearl Jam's Ten or Radiohead's OK Computer. Good luck topping it.

Sigur Rós left their new album nearly anonymous, scrapping working titles like "vaka" and "njósnavélin" and providing no names at all. There are no liner notes to speak of, just a simple booklet containing wintery depictions of vegetation. The CD and its case are white as well, with only the name of the band handwritten at the bottom of the outer shell, a copyright notice on the CD, and a sleepwalking boy on the back.

The music is in the same vein. If Ágætis Byrjun is a lush autumn soundscape, () must be a barren winter. The first four tracks, which comprise the "first section" of the album, are sparse and, sadly, somewhat boring. There are plenty of elements present: organ hums, gentle pianos, soft percussion, frail voices... they're just not doing very much. "Track 3" starts with a beautiful piano melody with swirling strings and organs building in intensity, but ultimately the track goes nowhere.

The ball starts rolling near the end of "Track 4", as some sort of toy piano or xylophone coupled with the voice of Jónsi Birgisson takes control of the listener's ear and drives the song to its conclusion. That sets up the second half of the album, which is much more rewarding to the listener.

The album cries out for a track like "svefn-g-englar" or "viðrar vel til loftárása", a song that will make you stop what you're doing and play it over again. Unfortunately, that never happens. The latter half of the album has more going on, but ends up sounding like an extended version of The Smashing Pumpkins "Drown", with Jónsi wailing incoherent syllables like Thom Yorke in "Exit Music (For A Film)".

This isn't to say that () is bad; given the right setting it can be intense and quite moving. At the Tori Amos show at the Tsongas Arena, some exceedingly wise sound person put the CD on between the opening act and Tori. There was just something downright eerie about 8,000 people murmuring and milling about alongside the broad, sweeping tones of (). But when you need to gather 8,000 disinterested people into an arena to fully appreciate the music, can it really be that great?

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